About this Episode
In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel sits down with Parakeeto’s Kristen Kelly to tackle a common myth in agency ops: that a new project management or PSA tool will magically fix profit problems. Drawing on real client patterns, Kristen explains why tools help you do the work but rarely deliver trustworthy reporting on their own, and why agencies need to sequence the solution as Framework, Data, then Process. Together they unpack how to define the exact metrics you care about, build a simple ETL pipeline to clean and join time data with a payroll and project grid, and avoid the “precision trap” that crushes time-tracking compliance and erodes trust. If you want clearer utilization, margin, and forecasting without turning your PM tool into a Rube Goldberg machine, this conversation offers a practical path to reliable profit visibility and calmer delivery teams.
Watch this Episode
Points of Interest
- 00:00 – 01:30 – Introduction: Marcel welcomes Parakeeto’s Kristen Kelly back to discuss a recurring misconception in agency operations—the belief that a better project management or PSA tool can solve profit management challenges.
- 01:30 – 03:25 – The PM Tool “Silver Bullet” Myth: Kristen explains how leaders and PMs often adopt new tools to tame chaos, believing marketing promises that they’ll also solve utilization, capacity, and profitability issues.
- 03:25 – 06:00 – Why Agencies Fall for It: Marcel and Kristen note that while PM tools are valuable, they’re often oversold as full profit-management systems. Agencies end up frustrated by missing fields, tool quirks, and data limitations.
- 06:00 – 08:45 – Hitting the Wall: Many teams find themselves with tools that improve delivery workflows but still leave them unable to make key financial or operational decisions because the data remains fragmented across systems.
- 08:45 – 11:43 – Introducing the Framework → Data → Process Model: Marcel outlines Parakeeto’s three-part sequence for solving profit management: define the framework (metrics and formulas), structure the data, and establish ongoing processes for hygiene and cadence.
- 11:43 – 12:46 – Why Sequencing Matters: Without first defining what needs to be measured, agencies make poor configuration choices in PM tools—creating rework, confusion, and endless tool migrations.
- 12:46 – 15:19 – Defining the Framework: Agencies must precisely define how metrics like utilization, delivery margin, and project profitability are calculated, and understand the relationships between those measures before configuring tools.
- 15:19 – 19:54 – The Role of Process and Data Hygiene: Marcel explains that real-time reporting fails if data quality is poor. Clean, reliable reporting requires an ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) process, not direct reporting from source data.
- 19:54 – 22:55 – The Precision Trap: Kristen and Marcel explore the conflict between PMs needing granular precision and executives needing simple, high-level rollups. Forcing perfect data consistency across teams destroys usability and compliance.
- 22:55 – 26:28 – Practical Limits of In-Tool Reporting: Marcel describes how building detailed profitability reporting directly in PM tools creates unsustainable complexity, unrealistic data maintenance, and unreliable results.
- 26:28 – 34:38 – Building a Sustainable Data Architecture: They outline how Parakeeto’s ETL pipeline works—extracting time data (person, project, hours), joining it with payroll and project grids, normalizing fields, and applying ongoing QA to ensure accuracy.
- 34:38 – 42:37 – The Big Takeaway: Kristen and Marcel conclude that PM tools are essential for delivery but not the whole profit solution. Agencies should use them for managing work while relying on a clear framework and data pipeline for accurate reporting.
Show Notes
- Connect with Kristen via LinkedIn
- Free Agency Toolkit
- Parakeeto Foundations Course
- Free access to our Model Platform
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